Now or Never
by lovethatignites
Summary: It's the last basketball game of senior year, and the Iridium Knights are going to need to use teamwork in order to win. Based on the song/scene "Now or Never" from High School Musical: Senior Year.


Bittersweet was the only acceptable adjective to describe how it felt to stand in this locker room before a game for the last time. Daniel had spent a large chunk of the past four years in this locker room, between palling around and getting into fist fights and insisting (to no avail) that Andi use the girls' locker room because Diego was uncomfortable with her using the guys'. He'd had some amazing post-game victories with his teammates, as well as some hard losses filled with disappointment and anger, among these lockers. He'd been the captain throughout it all.

This was the last time he would ever be the team captain at an Iridium High basketball game.

A knock brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see his dad, Rick, standing just outside the void locker room space he'd chosen. Rick was decked out head to toe in his coaching gear, and his very presence told Daniel he could feel the sentiment of this moment, too.

"You should be with the guys," his dad said. "They need you to get them pumped up, and…" His eyes widened a bit. "I'm not sure if Andi's pumping them up more than she's scaring them."

Daniel laughed a bit. His dad knew very well the team was used to Andi.

"I know. I just needed a second to think, clear my head."

Rick stepped into the corner of the locker room his eldest son had chosen, holding his hand against the door frame. "This is my last time being a coach."

Yep. This was just as hard on Rick as it was the team.

"Not necessarily," Daniel said a bit too quickly. "Robbie—"

"Doesn't have an athletic bone in his body," Rick cut in with a scoff. "All he cares about is _fitting in_."

"Exactly." The athlete closed the space between his dad and himself and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "So next year, when he gets to the high school, and all his friends want to try out for sports teams…"

A grin slowly stretched itself across Rick's face. "I can only hope."

A moment passed in silence (well, aside from Andi's echoed chanting from the other side of the locker room), and Daniel could feel it in the air that his dad was about to say something important.

"You know, win or lose tonight, I'm proud of you." His eyes sparkled and he placed his own hand on his son's shoulder. "So just go out there and have a hell of a time, okay?"

Daniel decided it wasn't the appropriate time to voice the blunt truth—that he wouldn't be proud of _himself_ if the Iridium Knights lost—so instead, he said, "Thanks, Dad."

A scream ricocheted off the lockers, followed by Andi demanding said screamer "man up."

Rick's eyes widened significantly more than before. "Uh, you should probably—"

"I'm on it."

Daniel hustled over to the team just in time to see Andi threatening to shove Charles Greene's inhaler where the sun don't shine if he didn't bring his A-game.

"Whoa! Whoa! Andi! ANDI!" Daniel manhandled his childhood friend off of their teammate. Once she stopped struggling he spun her to face him then placed his hands on her thin shoulders. "The only thing anyone is shoving is our victory in Baymont's face. AM I RIGHT?"

The team erupted into cheers, this time definitely not out of fear.

"So let's go out there and do this!"

Andi clapped her hands together once and bellowed, "WHO ARE WE?"

"THE IRIDIUM KNIGHTS!" the team replied as Daniel led them toward the locker room exit.

"WHAT DO WE WANT?"

"VICTORY!"

"AND WHEN ARE WE GONNA GET IT?"

"NOW!"

The team emerged into the best kind of chaos there is: an excited crowd. The gym was completely packed with students from Iridium and their richy-rich rival school, Baymont, alike.

Daniel's family was spread throughout Iridium's side of the bleachers. In the front right corner were Robbie and some of his eighth grade friends, acting like they were too cool to be there. Towards the middle were Melanie and her boyfriend, Jonathan. They were sharing a bucket of popcorn and holding hands. In the back was Christine who was watching over Tommy.

And then right in the center was his girlfriend, Mia, looking flawless as ever. Diego had stuck her on Gigi-sitting duty: the school gossip was currently filming from right next to the female Kanay in the hopes she wouldn't run out onto the court and interrupt the game to get some better shots for her vlog.

Speaking of Diego, he was up in front of the bleachers with the rest of the Panthers, proudly donning his cheerleading uniform, yelling the chants and everything. Who knew his true calling lied not within basketball, but in cheering for it?

On Baymont's side of the bleachers were only three people associated with IHS. First there was Emma with each half her face painted a different color to show she was rooting for both teams. Since Jax had gotten expelled and transferred to Baymont, Emma never knew who to cheer for at games—her best friend from her own school, or her boyfriend from their rival school. So she tried to keep her team spirit split evenly.

Next up was her father who was in "disguise" (meaning a big straw hat and Hawaiian-print shirt). As the principal of Iridium, it wouldn't look good if Francisco was caught rooting for Baymont. But he wanted to support his daughter's boyfriend, not to mention his own girlfriend.

Speaking of Ursula, she was also on Baymont's side, rooting for her adopted son, Phillip. Since his best wizard bud had transferred, Phillip decided he wanted to attend Baymont, too. As he was Ursula's favorite, she had agreed in a heartbeat. Not to mention Phillip's new girlfriend, Ally, was a cheerleader for Baymont. Finally, one of her kids was dating someone she approved of!

Daniel's assessment of the gym was quick because a pair of chocolate brown eyes soon caught his own blue.

Mia waved and sent a wink his way, causing a grin to cover his face. With that one small gesture, he felt his determination increase tenfold. She always knew just how to encourage him.

The guys broke out into some layups to get the event started. The crowd went wild with the pre-game hype, and the cheerleaders from each side started into their dance routines.

Each team went to their respective side of the gym to huddle up with their coach. The Knights surrounded Rick who held out his hand. Each of the guys piled their hands on top and on three they broke.

The game had officially started.

Daniel went to the center of the court to do the jump ball with the Baymont captain which, unsurprisingly, was Jax. Daniel's competitive side was at an all-time high right now, and he'd be damned if this wizard got hold of the ball first.

The moment the ref had the ball in the air, Daniel hit it as hard as he could and got it into his team's possession. He dribbled down the court and passed to Gigantor Joshua. Josh faked the ball to Andi to give Daniel time to run down court, and once he was near the basket, Josh actually passed the ball to him. Daniel jumped, aimed, and let go of the ball.

The first points of the game went to Iridium.

The crowd went wild.

The next time Daniel knew they were guaranteed to obtain the ball was when some kid from Baymont passed to Phillip. Andi was his assigned guard, and she wasted no time in stealing the ball right out from under her ex's nose. She passed it to Daniel who raced his way down the court, Jax right on top of him. He threw the ball halfway up the court to Charles who had stayed at the half-point line. Charles got Iridium their second set of points courtesy of an NBN free throw. Daniel hustled up the court and gave his teammate a low-five.

Back and forth, back and forth went the ball, right along with the points. Iridium would score, then Baymont, and so the pattern went. Most of Iridium's shots were made by Daniel and Andi, while the majority of Baymont's were made by Jax and this mountain of a redhead, Cody. At one point, when Josh stole the ball, Cody plowed right into him and sent him into the floor, Josh hugging the ball to his chest as though it was his child all the while. Rick and Daniel had to pry his hands away. A different, non-embarrassing time, Daniel lifted Andi up to make an NBN shot which caused the crowd to burst into applause.

The first sign of shit hitting the fan happened shortly after halftime. Jax had the ball and was heading for his team's basket. Daniel stole it and passed to Andi. Andi took the ball down the opposite end of the court and passed it back to Daniel. But before he could catch it, Jax's body slammed into his and down he went.

As he slid back toward the bleachers, he was faintly aware of someone in the stands calling a foul, along with the sounds of several others booing. This was all over the sound of the ocean in his ears; he must have fallen pretty hard.

Andi was at his side in a moment, helping him to his feet and asking if he was alright when—

"Move, move it!" Mia pushed her way through the crowd and arrived on the sidelines. "Daniel, snap out of it," she demanded.

Her boyfriend blinked, trying to make the room shift back into perspective. "I'm good," he said, though he didn't sound so sure.

"Hey." Mia's voice was softer now, gentler. She took his face in her hands and let the fire in her eyes burn into his. "You can do this. I know you can. You just have to keep your confidence up." The corner of her lips threatened to turn up into a smile as she added, "Besides, Killer Miller doesn't _do_ losing."

He couldn't not smile at that. Shortly after they'd gotten back together, Mia had been able to restore his memories from the time he had the Spider Seal. His little exit from detention that first day of junior year was one of their biggest inside jokes; it never failed to make them dissolve into laughter.

Daniel leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled away and wagged her finger.

"Uh-uh. You get a kiss _after_ you win." And with a mischievous smirk, she disappeared back up the bleachers.

Needless to say, Daniel was more than back on his A-game.

He made a free throw from half-court and scored.

 **Iridium: 64**

 **Baymont: 65**

The next sign of shit hitting the fan was when Phillip got the ball. Andi had more than perfected her job of guarding him, and as he prepped to make a shot, she moved in front of him. Without a moment's hesitation, Phillip shouldered her into the ground, jumped, and scored a field goal.

The dirty move was all for naught—the ref unleashed all hell on Phillip for his foul while Andi jumped to her feet and charged forward, ready to beat her ex into a bloody pulp. Daniel hurried over in a panic and manhandled the girl for the second time that day. Rick was shouting words of encouragement to the two, but Daniel knew they were futile at this point. He signaled for his team to huddle on the sidelines.

Once the guys had surrounded their coach, Daniel announced, "We're blocked from every angle. We can't get a single shot up."

"Well," Rick said, placing his hands on his hips, "what do you want to do, Captain?"

It only took one flash of Gigi's camera for him to have his answer.

"Let's put in Cameraman."

The disapproval that radiated from his dad, as well as the entire team, could have been felt a mile away.

"Cameraman," Rick repeated. "Daniel, you realize you're two points away from—"

"I know, I know," he interrupted. "Just trust me on this. And guys? _Give me the ball_."

Rick shook his head. "Okay…" He turned toward the bleachers and hollered, "Cameraman!"

From the very first row of the bleachers, Sebastian the Camera Guy's head shot up. He'd been in the process of fiddling with some broken wires in Camera 1, but now he was all ears to his coach.

"C'mon, Cameraman! You're in!"

Not only was Coach Rick motioning him towards the huddle, but the whole team was! Sebastian's face lit up. He handed his camera to his fellow benchwarmer, tore off his windbreaker, and hustled over to his team. Once he was there, he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, pumping his fists with uncontainable excitement. "Oh, yeah!"

Andi's face scrunched up with disdain. "Calm down," she ordered, giving his arm a rough smack.

"Alright," Daniel said, looking the boy in the eye to make sure he had his full attention. When it was clear he did, he said very seriously, "Now, keep your eyes on me."

Sebastian nodded to confirm he would do so.

The team put their hands in and broke one last time, and then the game was back in play.

Cody the Mountain checked the ball into Daniel as members from each team alternated into a line in front of him, reaching their hands out this way and that. Andi stepped out of her place behind Phillip and made herself open on the left. Daniel passed her the ball and she ran down the court, toward their hoop. Once she was close to the three-point line, she passed the ball back to Daniel.

Eleven seconds left.

Not only Jax, but Phillip was on him. He turned out to the left then broke to the right, throwing them off enough to give him a head start down the court. Andi distracted Phillip as Daniel and Jax raced toward the hoop. Daniel jumped and fake-aimed up toward the basket. Just as expected, Jax's arm shot up to block the shot. It was at this point Daniel changed his aim to straight across from him on the other side of the basket and passed the ball…

Right into the hands of none other than Sebastian.

A valid discussion would be had later over who was more shocked by this action: the crowd, or Sebastian himself. The boy stood there, eyes wide, arms frozen, until Andi screamed, "SHOOT IT!"

So he did.

And made the winning shot.

Sebastian's face lit up the exact same time the crowd's did. Everyone on Iridium's side of the bleachers went wild. Diego gave a manly yell and slid down into a split. The guys picked up Sebastian and carried him over to celebrate with their coach. Mia and Gigi pushed through the stands and raced onto the court at lightning speed. Mia jumped into Daniel's arms and kissed him while Gigi placed a congratulatory smooch on her cameraman's mouth. If the crowd had been loud before, they were riot-worthy now.

Andi was so hyped up she ripped off her jersey, leaving her in nothing on top but her purple sports bra. She threw the jersey in Phillip and Jax's general direction and shouted, "IN YO FACE!"

Daniel's eyes widened at the sight of Andi's partial nudity. He was about to reprimand his teammate, but Mia quickly held up her hands. "Ah-ah. Right here." She guided his mouth back to hers, and just like that, all thoughts of being responsible vanished from his mind.

After Maddie helped him up from his split, Diego hurried to the other side of the gym. He threw his arms around Ursula and shouted, "Mrs. Van Pelt! We won!"

Ursula, who had already been crying over her son's loss, only cried harder upon making physical contact with the Kanay.

Before Francisco had time to reach a comforting hand out to his girlfriend, Andi and her purple sports bra headed their way, along with the rest of the Iridium Knights and their women. They were headed for the exit, probably to go celebrate at The 7, but Andi's public indecency was what caught his eye.

"Andi!"

"Sup, Franny," she said casually, giving him a man-to-man pat on the back, seamlessly slipping out the door in the process.

Francisco's mouth formed a perfect O as he turned to look at his daughter.

Emma only placed a hand to her temple and said helplessly, "I… I don't know…"

Their high school principal was out of the bleachers and chasing after Andi in a second.


End file.
